Quote:
Originally Posted by afa
I enjoy series because it not only allows me to revisit the characters and the world I like, but revisit them in a new setting, rather than exactly the same thing again and again.
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I love series too, when they're well written. And a well written one will have each story with a beginning, middle and end, as well as an on-going story arc. I love revisiting a universe, and characters I've come to like reading about. (Until the stories stall, or start repeating themselves. Then I bail out.)
That said, the ones I don't like are 'installments', where a story is started but has no middle or end. Each 'ending' is usually a cliffhanger to get you to the next book. I avoid those and "To Be Continued" in regular books and fanfic as well. (Especially since a lot of stories in fanfic are never completed. It's too easy to write the characters into a bad situation, have no clue how to resolve it, and just walk away from it.)
I've been lucky in that I haven't come across many books in a series that weren't pretty much self contained. It's one of the things I look for in a review, is if someone complains that the 'story just stops' or 'ends on a cliffhanger.' Those don't get bought by me unless I know that the ending is already available.
Otherwise, series with universes I like make me very happy!
